How to rebuild Benn & Itauma after ‘mental scarring’ of defeat

Two big names in British boxing, earmarked as stars of the future, Moses Itauma and Conor Benn, have suffered shattering defeats in recent weeks.

Both were halted in their first world title fights. Ryan Garcia savagely ended Benn’s challenge for the WBC welterweight belt in just two rounds, while Itauma crumbled in the ninth round when boxing Filip Hrgovic for the vacant IBF strap.

George Groves became a big name in British boxing but was no stranger to adversity in his career – it took him four attempts to win a world championship.

He says Itauma, who is still only 21 years old, must demonstrate his resolve.

“He’s going to have to show a lot of resilience to come back from that as well as remain confident with self-belief,” Groves told Sky Sports.

“There’s no way you can train to that level of exhaustion. It’s not like you can go into the gym and replicate that. It’s never going to be, in the gym, as important as what it is – a world title fight at his age underneath the lights with everything on the line.

“He’s been there now and that’s a credit to him… Now you’ve got to use that.

“It’s not an easy task but I hope that there isn’t a lot of mental scarring there and they can go back and not try and reinvent. Keep what he is but just give him more comfort and confidence in the pacing of the fight.”

That’s something Itauma will have to learn.

“Maybe it will come with age, that endurance that he can be much more of a 12 round fighter than a three-round fighter. At the moment he’s a three-round fighter. That’s the sad fact of it. He’s not even a six-round fighter. I thought he was gassing a bit from the third round on,” Groves said.

“He’s that sort of athlete, extremely fast twitch and when he punches he puts maximum effort into it. But that depletes the engine. At times he’s probably never really had to work on it.

“But he’s going to have to be much more efficient in his work.”

Groves does think Itauma needs to regroup against an easier opponent.

“If I had to rebuild Moses Itauma. I would drop him obviously down a level but I’ve got to be honest I think his management has been great so far. I’m not buying into ‘the Hrgovic fight was a step too far’. It was what it was. It was the right fight to make. It got elevated to a world title,” he said.

“It was logical to elevate it to a world title and with that maybe came some pressure. Moses, he probably thought he had Hrgovic gone and he didn’t and put his foot on the gas a bit too much and he gassed out. So he’s going to have to own that a little bit. They’ll change and adapt within his training team to patch that up.

“Get him in with someone durable, someone not as durable as Hrgovic maybe.”

But Groves added: “The Hrgovic fight, it was the right fight to have.

“Hrgovic is good, he’s been about, he’s tough but in some ways he’s made for Itauma because, although he’s big and strong, he’s not quick. He had nothing in that fight. The only time he has success was when Itauma just came away from his boxing style because he was exhausted,” the former champion explained.

“The toughest job in boxing is probably navigating Itauma’s career because he’s been so good, so fast, so early, so young.”

What should Benn do next?

Conor Benn also faces a tricky rebuilding job. He moved up in weight for two 160lb clashes with Chris Eubank Jr last year, worked his way back to welter for Garcia but then came unstuck.

“I’m not sure where he lies at true world class,” Groves said. “If he’s not going to stay at 147lbs, who can he beat at 154lbs and who can he beat at 160lbs?

“I don’t think [middleweight] is a good move. I’d go up to 154, I know that’s a tough division with loads of really good fighters who aren’t necessarily the massive marquee names.

“Maybe another camp at 147 could be good. But then you’re in with Teofimo Lopez, Shakur Stevenson.”

Benn will likely consider completing a trilogy with Eubank Jr, potentially at super-middleweight.

Groves said: “Hopefully it’s not all roads lead to Eubank because I think that’s done. That rivalry is done. I’ve got a feeling that’s what it will be.

“I’m not a huge fan of that but that’s probably the best of Conor Benn’s options.”

Benn has already had a number of lucrative fights. But he’s not expected to call it a day there.

“He’s made crazy money but I don’t think he’ll retire,” Groves noted. “I don’t think he’d want to retire off the back of that loss and he definitely won’t walk away from the table when there’s still food there.”

Watch Johnny Fisher vs Michael Pirotton on Saturday September 26 live on Sky Sports.

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